The Tale of the Three Brothers
by Iamwritergirl
Summary: My take on The Tale of the Three Brothers by Beedle the Bard. It has a few OC in it.


**Ok. I put a COMPLETELY different twist on this story. I'm sorry if it offends or upsets, but what happens, happens I guess. Please enjoy my version of ****The Tale of the Three Brothers.** ** P.S. Im sorry I know the twist is SOOOO predictable...**

My sister was sitting where she always was on a warm summer sunset. She was perched like an owl on her log stump, next to the elder tree that dipped into the river. I quickly walked to sit next to her, admiring the blue book in her hands.

"What are you reading?" I asked quietly. Sister jumped softly then laughed.

"The tale of the Three Brothers," She replied quietly still laughing. I sat next to her, moving her wand which she had next to her stump.

"What?" I asked.

"You haven't heard of Beedle the Bard?" She exclaimed. I frowned and shook my head. "Then I have no choice but to tell you the story!" I quickly took the book from her small hands and started to read.

"I'll just read it here. There is no need for you to read it to me." She frowned and snatched the book back.

"Who said I was going to read it to you? I will use my own imagination and change it a bit." She spoke forcefully, twiddling with the bottom of her ever-present black cloak. I smiled. Sister's stories were the best.

"Fine then, Sister. Change it as much as you may." I quietly mumbled, lying back in the grass. She put her hands in her lap and thought for a minute. Then she started spinning the tale, like a spider spinning a web.

"There were once two brothers and a sister who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the trio reached a river too deep to wade through and too treacherous to swim across. However, they were learned and extremely skilled in the magical arts, so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. Said figure was Death. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him."

She paused again, thinking out the next strand.

"So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, just like this one, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, just grazing the waters edge, and gave it to the oldest brother. Then the youngest brother, who was an arrogant and spoilt man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from the deep recesses of Death. So Death picked up a small smooth black stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead, if it was spun thrice. And then Death asked the third sibling and only born girl what she would like. The youngest child was the humblest and also the wisest of the three and she did not trust, nor would ever trust, Death. So she asked for something that would enable her to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, tore a strip from his cloak and handed it to her."

She sighed knowingly and continued, taking in the amber sunset.

"Then Death stood aside and allowed the trio to continue on their way, and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death's gifts. In due course the siblings separated, each for their own destination. The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a small distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a past quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his chosen weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy cold and dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible. That very night, another wizard, a friend of the murdered wizard, crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat. And so Death took the first brother for his own."

I looked at her in shock. "This won't end well, now will it?"

"Hush little chickling, let me finish my tale."

"Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him. Yet she was sad and cold, separated from his as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her. And so Death took the second brother for his own."

I shivered, but Sister took no notice.

"But though Death searched for the third for many years, he was never able to find her. It was only when she had attained a great age that the youngest finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to her eldest. And then she greeted Death as an . . ." Sister tried to say.

"As an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, as equals, they departed this life." Finished a gruff voice from the weed bridge that joined this island to the mainland. I span and gasped in shock. A black hooded figure stood there, head bowed. He stretched his hand out. "I think you should re-word the last bit." He spoke.

Sister smiled. "But though Death searched for the third for many years, he was never able to find me."

I gasped. _She was the sister?_ I was silently hysterical as she stood up, took her wand and took her cloak from around her neck. _Was that the Cloak of Invisibility?_

"It was only when I had attained a great age that I finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to her eldest sibling. And then I shall greet Death as an old friend and I will go with him gladly, departing this life as equals." She stepped onto the bridge and took Death's hand. She looked back at me and said normally, as if she wasn't dying, " You stay tight inside that cloak. It will serve you well until your time."And, as swiftly as Death had came, The two turned in to a flock of ravens and flew to their rightful place, from one world to the next.


End file.
